Remotely operated target-processing system

Abstract

A remotely operated target-processing system includes a shooting robot having a stand supporting a firing part having an optoelectronic aiming device providing an image of the target, sensors detecting the relative position of the firing part, and actuators positioning the firing-pt. A central unit receives the instructions and the signals from the sensors and generates control signals for the actuators and the firing-pert. A control screen displays the image and embeds aiming data, and a control member directs the trajectory line.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A remotely operated target-processing system, comprising:
 a shooting robot having a stand supporting a firing part, the shooting robot further comprising:
 an optoelectronic aiming device providing an image of a target; 
 sensors that detect the relative position of the firing part; and 
 actuators that position the firing part; 
 
 a central unit that receives instructions and signals from the sensors and that generates command signals for the actuators and the firing part; 
 a control screen that displays the image of the target provided by the optoelectronic device and embeds aiming data in the image; and 
 a manual control member to direct the trajectory line of the firing part and to control settings of the firing part and shooting of the firing part; 
 wherein the central unit executes a gap correction function comprising the steps of:
 capturing, as the optoelectronic aiming is operating, the image of a target surface and digitising the image and an aiming point; 
 instructing the shooting robot to shoot at the target and to capture the image of the same target surface and to digitise the image with the new position of the aiming point; 
 comparing the images to determine a gap between the aiming point after firing and the aiming point before firing; and 
 generating correcting signals to order the movement of the firing part to make the new aiming point coincide with the initial aiming point before firing. 
 
 
     
     
       2. A remotely operated target-processing system, comprising:
 a shooting robot having a stand supporting a firing part, the shooting robot further comprising:
 an optoelectronic aiming device providing an image of a target; 
 sensors that detect the relative position of the firing part; and 
 actuators that position the firing part; 
 
 a central unit that receives instructions and signals from the sensors and that generates command signals for the actuators and the firing part; 
 a control screen that displays the image of the target provided by the optoelectronic device and embeds aiming data in the image; and 
 a manual control member to direct the trajectory line of the firing part and to control settings of the firing part and shooting of the firing part; 
 wherein the central unit executes an automatic harmonisation function to harmonise the firing part with the target in order to bring the line of sight and the mean trajectory line into convergence on the target, said function comprising the steps of:
 defining a surface on the target and aiming at a point on this surface; 
 digitising the image comprising the target with the position of the aiming point; 
 firing a series of three shots; 
 capturing the image of the target with the impact of the three shots and digitising the image; 
 calculating the position of the mean point of the impact of the three shots; 
 determining the gap between the position of the mean point and the position of the aiming point; and 
 moving the aiming point so that it coincides with the position of the mean point. 
 
 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 2 , wherein during said harmonisation function, the central unit applies gap correction function to the gap produced by the firing after each harmonisation shot. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the central unit executes a target lock-on function, comprising the steps of:
 aiming at a moving target; 
 capturing, by using the image digitised by the optoelectronic aiming device, an elementary pixelated surface on the moving target to highlight the optical features of the elementary surface that form a characteristic reference feature of the target; 
 determining the centre of this block of pixels and considering the coordinates of the centre of the block of pixels as being the coordinates of the axis of the reticle of the optoelectronic aiming device; 
 directing the firing part and its optoelectronic aiming device on to the target by capturing successive images of the environment of the target to locate the characteristic elementary surface in each image; and 
 initiating firing in the conditions determined for the target. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the shooting robot is equipped with a self-destruction device comprising at least one charges installed in the shooting robot. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein said manual control member is a human-actuated control member. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , wherein said control screen includes a visually perceptible optoelectronic reticle.